The head of the Barows faction, Salum Barows is an elderly Senator who hides a deadly and calculating mind behind a facade of foppishness and idiocy.

Lord Barows has been head of his faction for quite a long time, and was rumored to be the driving force behind Princess Falzrahm's desire to take over the throne. Lord Barows had feared that Godwin, who had men married to both Queen Olhazeta and Princess Shahrewar, would become too powerful.

Unlike the Godwins, who prefer subjugated the neighboring countries with the Sun Rune, Lord Barows prefers peaceful accord with the others. Of course, this is an outward facade to hide his real agenda: under-the-table trading and schemes to gather both money and power.

Lord Barows is married and had three children. The eldest, Hiram, was assassinated by Nether Gate. The second, Euram, was slated to become head of the Barows faction following Hiram's death, and so, Lord Barows schemed and manipulated his son to promote his father's agenda as much as possible. The youngest, Luserina, was a lovely girl that Salum was proud of, both for her beauty and for her capable hand: managing most of Rainwall's affairs herself.

Lord Barows meets the Prince and Princess while he is in the Senate attending to minor details and preparing for the Sacred Games. By purchasing the gladiator Zegai, an amazing fighter, Lord Barows hopes to marry Euram to Lymsleia. However, Gizel's schemes prevent this plan from going forth. Lord Barows returns to Rainwall following the Sacred Games.

Lord Barows takes in the Prince and Lady Sialeeds following the Godwin coup d'etat. His army is the only one large enough to protect the two royals from the Godwins pursuing them. Here, Lord Barows schemes to marry the Prince to Luserina and become the father-in-law to the Prince. Lord Barows knows that people do not want a repeat of a succession war over the throne, and so, rather then go after Lady Sialeeds, he tries to manipulate the Prince. By getting the Prince to lead the army, he bolsters morale among his troops. After recruiting Raftfleet and learning that the Godwins cannot use the Sun Rune, Salum decides to spring his plan. He wants the Prince to carve out his own kingdom among the eastern Falenan territories and Armes. Salum feels the Prince wants to become King, and in the Sun Palace, he could never become one. After the Prince became King and wed to Luserina, Salum would have him assassinated and take over the reigns of power. However, the Prince has no desire to become King, he just wants to rescue his sister.

Salum thinks the Prince is just being naive and will reconsider later, and so, he calls in a favor with Armes and sneaks General Guisu and some of the Armes Southern Mountain Corps into Falena. However, the Prince's tactician, Lady Merces, discovers this and plans against it. Lord Barows tries to act like he knows nothing about it, but Euram blurts out that Salum should use the Dawn Rune. Confused, the Prince goes into the basement where the Dawn Rune is indeed hidden there. Once it is found, the rune selects the Prince as a host. Angered, the royals go to Lord Barows, where the truths are finally revealed. Lord Barows had actually incited the people of Lordlake to attack the East Palace after they merely were protesting the construction of a dam that damaged their water supply. During the chaos, the Barows soldiers made off with the Dawn Rune and returned it to Lord Barows. It is unknown what Lord Barows planned to do with the rune, but Lucretia suspects that it was probably going to be used as a bargaining chip with Queen Arshtat, the Godwins, or Armes, or that Salum was hiding it until he could figure out how to use it himself.

The Prince's camp leaves Rainwall, and Lord Barows is left without allies. Rainwall is left alone until General Novum attacks and the city surrenders. Lord Barows is left alone and is among the guests at Lymsleia's coronation as Queen. Like Miakis, Haswar and Galleon, he is not happy at the event.

Salum goes back to Rainwall, and it isn't until the Godwin troops, scaling back their army to defend Sol-Falena, withdraw their troops from Rainwall. Sialeeds, who has defected to the Godwin side, offers to deliver the message. When she delivers the message to the Senator, she turns to leave, but tells Salum she has news of Luserina. Eager to hear news of his daughter, who left with the Prince's forces, Salum comes in close. Sialeeds mentions that Luserina is doing well, and has forgotten all about her foolish father. So, now, he can rest in peace. Sialeeds then turns the Twilight Rune onto the Senator, killing him instantly. - Matt620 (article), Basel (image)